Vietnam: Who are competition presiding officers?

Vietnam: Who are competition presiding officers? (Internet image) 

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Who are competition presiding officers?

According to Clause 2, Article 58 of the Law on Competition 2018, competition presiding officers include:

- President of the National Competition Commission;

- President of the anti-competitive settlement council;

- Members of the anti-competitive settlement council;

- Members of anti-competitive complaint handling council;

- Head of Competition Investigation Agency;

- Investigators;

- Hearing clerks.

2. Regulations on replacement of competition presiding officers in Vietnam

Regulations on replacement of competition presiding officers according to Article 65 of the Law on Competition 2018 are as follows:

- Members of the anti-competitive settlement council, investigators, hearing clerks shall be replaced if they fall into one of the following cases:

+ Being relatives of the investigated party or the complainant;

+ Being person with relevant rights and obligations to the competitions cases;

+ There are obvious grounds to believe that they are biased when performing their duties.

- The President of National Competition Commission shall replace members of the anti-competitive settlement council or hearing clerks at his/her discretion or at the request of anti-competitive settlement council.

- At the hearing, in case of replacement of member(s) of the anti-competitive settlement council or the hearing clerk, the anti-competitive settlement council shall issue a decision to postpone the hearing and request the President of National Competition Commission to replace the members of the anti-competitive settlement council or the hearing clerk. The hearing shall not be suspended more than 15 days from the date of suspension.

3. Principles of competition legal proceedings in Vietnam

Principles of competition legal proceedings according to Article 54 of the Law on Competition 2018 are as follows:

- All competition legal proceedings of competition presiding agencies, competition presiding officers, participants in competition legal proceedings and concerned entities must comply with the provisions of this Law.

- In the process of carrying out competition legal proceedings, the competition presiding agencies, competition presiding officers and participants in competition legal proceedings must, within the scope of their respective tasks and powers, keep secrets of the competition case and trade secrets of enterprises as per the law.

- Legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and relevant entities shall be respected during the competition legal proceedings.

4. Evidence in competition legal proceedings in Vietnam

Evidence in competition legal proceedings in Vietnam under Article 56 of the Law on Competition 2018 is as follows:

- Evidences are facts used as grounds for determining whether or not violations against competition law exist, violating enterprises and other details which are meaningful in the settlement of competition cases.

- Evidences are collected from the following sources:

+ Readable, audible, visible materials, electronic data;

+ Exhibits;

+ Testimonies, explanations of witnesses;

+ Testimonies, explanations of complainants, investigated parties, related entities;

+ Expertise conclusions;

+ Records made during the investigation, settlement of competition cases;

+ Other documents, objects or sources prescribed by law.

- Determination of evidence:

+ Readable documents shall be regarded as evidence if they are originals or notarized/authenticated copies provided or certified by involved or competent entities.

+ Audible and visible materials shall be regarded as evidence if they are presented together with the written explanation by the persons who have such materials about the origin of the materials in case they make records on their own, or the written explanation about the origin of the materials by the persons who have provided such materials to the persons who submit them, or description of the circumstances related to such recording or filming;

+ Electronic data messages in the form of exchange of electronic data, electronic vouchers, electronic mails, telegrams, faxes and other similar forms in accordance with the provisions of law on e-transactions;

+ Exhibits regarded as evidence that must be original objects related to the case;

+ Statements, testimonies of witnesses; statements, testimonies and explanations of the complainant, the person against whom the complaint is made (hereinafter referred to as respondent), the investigated party or relevant entities shall be regarded as evidence if they are recorded in writing, audio tapes, audio disks, video clips or by other audio and visual equipment as prescribed in Points a and b of this Clause or made verbally at the hearing;

+ Expertise conclusions shall be regarded as evidence if the expertise is carried out in accordance with the procedures prescribed by law.

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